'We will remain one nation under God,' GOP candidate tells crowd at rally in Lancaster.

LANCASTER — In the state's conservative heartland, Mitt Romney gave a stump speech rife with patriotic and economic themes to a polite yet cautious crowd of diehard, lifelong Republicans, many of whom are just now coming around to a Romney candidacy.

At a rally at Lancaster's Convention Center, Romney offered up a spattering of applause lines, the ones absolutely necessary to win over any Republican crowd: He promised to beat President Barack Obama, to repeal the Democrats' health care law and, particularly important in Lancaster, to adhere to religious values.

"If I'm president I'll commit to this: We will remain one nation under God," Romney said to some of the loudest applause of the night.

The Lancaster area is best known for its beautiful, sprawling farmland and its Amish community — a county so conservative that tea party favorite Sam Rohrer beat establishment choice Tom Corbett in the 2010 gubernatorial primary election.

"There are more Republicans in this room than I have in Massachusetts," Romney joked at the start of his 20-minute address. "Lancaster County, boy is there a lot of Republicans here. Boy, do I want your support."

David Reed, 54, who owns a small computer business, said he had really hoped to see Pennsylvania native son Rick Santorum speak. As for Romney, he's just not sure about him yet. But when pressed, Reed said hesitantly that by November he'll probably support Romney.

Reed, whose wife is a local midwife, said abortion is the biggest issue for them.

"I don't know that much about Mitt Romney," Reed said. "Today's the first day I've been on his website. It looked pretty good. Abortion and things like that I'm against, and I see he is, too."

The event was more subdued than one that the Independence Hall Tea Party hosted at the Franklin Institute museum in Philadelphia on Monday night. The group's political action committee was the first tea party organization to endorse Romney in early January as he struggled to prove his conservativism among a crowded field of tea party favorites like Michele Bachmann and Santorum.

Romney, whose been widely scrutinized for his lack of charisma and inability to connect, dished out plenty of red meat at that gathering, feeding off the crowd's energy. He had the enthusiasm of a man who knew he'd won one hard-fought battle, but is about to fight a much greater one and needs all the army's foot soldiers at the ready.

Talking about how to cut back the federal government, "the first on the list is Obamacare; let's get rid of that one," Romney said to rousing applause, cheers and a standing ovation from the lively Philadelphia crowd.

In Lancaster, Terry Christopher, 29, was sitting with Ruth Ann Souders, 63, whom he had just met sitting at their assigned dinner table. When asked if they were Romney supporters, they glanced at each other and gave a slight laugh, giving away that they had just finished having that conversation.

Christopher said he was "pleased" Romney was the candidate, but wasn't overly enthusiastic. Souders had been pulling for Newt Gingrich.

"Hopefully, Mitt can kind of give us some confidence. He doesn't have to preach to our strict conservative Lancaster County values — just show us he's a conservative leader who can get us out of the mess that we're in and lead us to a victory in a couple months," Christopher said.

A few tables over, Alvin Miller, 74, an auctioneer, said he had liked Santorum, but knew all along it would be Romney as the nominee. Asked if he was a Romney supporter now, Miller said simply, "Well, yes. Sure."

The driving force for Miller is to beat Obama in November.

"We got to get him out of here," he said.

Santorum, who left the presidential race a week ago ahead of the state's Tuesday primary, was slated to speak at the Lancaster event, but backed out. In a conference call with supporters Monday night, he held out on endorsing Romney.

"As far as how you vote, that's up to you," Santorum said on the call. "I haven't supported any candidate at this point, so that's really up to you."

Gov. Tom Corbett officially endorsed Romney on Tuesday afternoon, saying in a statement that the primary season is over and it's time for Republicans to unite around Romney.

One man isn't quite ready for the primary to be over, though: Gingrich, former speaker of the House and born in nearby Hummelstown, closed out the event, asking the crowd to "consider" voting for him next week. He received a warm reception from the socially conservative crowd, garnering applause for references to crosses and the Ten Commandments being allowed in public buildings and prayer in schools. He aimed to distinguish himself as the truer conservative who can beat Obama.

But Robin Stauffer, 48, a corporate secretary, who said she has been "pretty much" a Romney fan throughout the primary process, thinks it's Romney's moderation that can win the White House.

"We need to find more common ground to move this country forward," Stauffer said. "I think Mitt Romney will help us do that. I think he's a little more centrist, and he is probably more appealing to the masses, maybe."